Christopher Maes (1831-1895)
}} Christopher Maes was from Sülm, Germany (also spelled Sulm or Suelm), which is a bit SE of Bitburg, Germany, and was in the area they called Rhenish Prussia. Antoinette (Toni) Maes Krummenacker (TK) found two documents that confirm this was the area that he was from in Germany. They are his marriage records to his second wife, Anna Schreiber and his German Army discharge papers. This marriage record is in St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Ellinwood, Kansas. Christopher Maes had a sister who was Mary Lauterbach. A document appears on page 132, entry XIV and is a page from the "Heiratsregister". Record filmed July l968 by the Genealogical Society of Utah. A photocopy of this document was copied by Jacqueline Hull Reaves (daughter of Geneva Maes Hull) on 16 September 1991. This copy is made from Film #556878. Location of record--Pfarre: Suelm (Sülm), Dekanat: Bitburg, Kreis: Bitburg, Bezirk: Trier, Land: Rheinland-Pfalz. Description of Record: Heiratsregister, Sterberegister, No of Volume: 2, Dates covered: 1809-1877. Entry XIV is last entry for the year of 1855. This document is a copy of the registration of the marriage of Mariam Mees to Bernard Lauterbach in November 1856. This wedding took place in the town of Suelm (also spelled Sülm) near Bitburg in the Rheinland-Pfalz. This document appears to give the name of Mariam Mees' parents as Joannis Mees and Anna Maria Borscheidt. Christopher Mees (Maes) would have been 25 years and 6 month old at the time of this wedding. Christopher Maes's (Mees) home is stated as Sülm (umlaut over the u) on his German Prussian army discharge papers. A rough translation of this document of was made from a lightly printed photocopy from Mrs. Louis Zink who resides in Bushton, Kansas (Louis Zink is the son of Margaret Maes and Anton Zink - Margaret Maes was a daughter of Christopher Maes from his second marriage to Anna Schreiber). The document roughly translated as follows: "Kingdom of Prussia, Governmental District Trier, Province Niederrhein, Kreis Bitburg.....Mees, Christopher 22 years old and in Sülm born is medically discharged (unfit to serve) due to a condition" -- abbreviated as "M. M." (perhaps something muscular) and then something about his "arm." This document was signed in Bitburg on 27 April 1853 and goes on to say how he didn't have to report to duty anymore, etc. The photocopy of this document is very light and hard to read. If Christopher was 22 years old (almost 23) at this time, that would put his birth in 1831 and I have that his birth date is 27 June 1831 from US Military records. Christopher Maes arrived in the USA on 18 November 1857 out of the Port of Antwerp, Belgium, on the ship named David Hoadly. He was about 26 years old when he arrived in the Port of New York. Source: Microfilm serial M237, microfilm roll M237_180, List #1336. He claimed Prussian as his nationality. He was from Suelm (Palatinate a/k/a Pfalz), Germany, near Bitburg. The Rhineland was part of Prussia at that time. He settled in the Chicago area near his sister Mary and her husband Ben Lauterbach. While in Chicago he joined the United States Union Army on 13 August 1862 (at the age of 31) in Sublette, Illinois (Lee County). He mustered in on 2 September 1863, at Dixon, Illinois, as a Private and was on the muster rolls of E company, 75th Illinois Infantry Volunteers under the command of Captain William Frost from 2 September to 31 October 1882. The 75th Illinois was to become part of the Army of the Ohio under General Don Carlos Buell and was engaged in battle in Kentucky on 8 October 1862 near Kentucky. This battle was a major battle in that it saved Kentucky from becoming part of the Confederacy. At that time Kentucky was considered the WEST, so this battle saved the West for the Union as the Confederate Army was greatly outnumbered and was defeated in this battle and eventually retreated. The 75th Illinois was in the thick of the battle and took heavy losses and had many wounded. The battlefield is still there with a museum and monuments. There is a large monument to the Confederate Soldiers that fought there, but none to the Union Soldiers. Christopher Maes was wounded on 8 October 1862 in the battle at Perryville, which is also known as the 'Battle at Chaplin Hill' in Kentucky. He was "wounded in the left leg below and near the knee. The bullet passed through the leg at the junction of the upper and middle posterior tibial region, injuring the posterior tibial nerve, impairing the sensation, motion and nutrition of the limb, so as to render it almost useless." Signed by Dr. Phillips and from military archival records. A musket ball below the knee near the joint caused the injury. From TK's readings of the Civil War weaponry, she found that the musket was a powerful rifle and musket balls usually shattered the bone where it hit a leg or an arm and that is why they amputated so many arms and legs during the Civil War. They had no choice since the bones where literally destroyed and the arm or leg just dangled, therefore, had to be removed. Christopher Maes did not lose his leg. He was hospitalized at New Albany, Indiana, and was absent from E Company until 12 March 1863 and in hospital all that time (approximately 6 months). He then returned to his regiment, but was still suffering from the affects of the gunshot wound. He was discharged on either 30 April 1863 or 2 May 1863 at Murfreesboro, Tennessee by order of General Rosecrans. Christopher Maes was 32 years old at the time of his discharge from the Union Army... almost 33 years old as his birthday was in June. His military records describe him as five feet four and a half inches tall (5' 4 1/2"), with a light complexion, blue eyes and brown hair. The records also show that he made application for a military pension on 25 January 1876 at the age of 41 and that he was then residing in Cook County (Chicago, Illinois) and since his discharge he had been residing in Chicago and was occupied as a Lumberman and lived at W 69 Henry Street, Chicago, Illinois. He became a naturalized citizen of the USA on 01 Nov 1876. While in Chicago he married a widow, Magdalena Breier who had one child by the name of Hubert Kramer from a previous marriage to a Mr. Kramer who had been a railroad man. So far TK found no records of this marriage nor has she looked for them. She did find that Hubert Kramer existed and is buried at the old Cain City Cemetery. She saw his tombstone there and has the cemetery records. Christopher and Magdalena Breier had five children all born in Chicago who are as follows: Mathias who was born 19 January 1867 (died 6 May 1960), Bernard (no records), Christopher who was born 17 September 1872 (died 25 March 1938), Catherine who was born 29 January 1877 (died 6 December 1952) and Leonard who was born 28 September 1878 (died 2 March 1952). In 1879 Christopher and Magdalena came to Kansas with their five children who ranged in age from 12 years old to one year old. They settled on a farm in Ellsworth County which is located one-half mile north and one half mile west of Bushton. This became known as the Maes Farm and I believe it was their homestead. Magdalena died on 7 August 1880 leaving Christopher Maes with his family of five children ranging in age from approximately age 13 to age 2. TK was told that his sister, Mary Maes Lauterbach and her husband Ben Lauterbach lived across Highway 4 from the Maes Farm and helped take care of the children. Magdalena is buried in the cemetery behind the St Peter and Paul Catholic Church in the country sort of between Bushton and Ellinwood. It seems to me that would be the correct description of the location that TK traveled when she visited Magdalena's grave. It was a very cold and windy day when TK visited there and the church has nothing around it except farms and a few cows. TK tried to do a tombstone rubbing of Magdalena's tombstone and got part of it, but the wind was so cold, TK finally just copied in long hand what it said, which was in German as follows: "Hier ruhet im Frieden Magdalena Breier, Frau von Christopher Maes, Gestorben den 8. August 1880, alt 38 Jahr, gott gibt ihr die ewige ruh." (Translation: "Here rests in peace Magdalena Breier, wife of Christopher Maes, died August 8, 1880, 38 years old, May God give her eternal rest.") On 23 October 1881 at the age of 50 Christopher Maes married Anna Marie Schreiber (born 10 February 1849 and died on 5 November 1928) who was from Hoisington, Kansas. Anna Marie Schreiber was the daughter of Anna Schreiber and Schreiber who had a farm NW of Hoisington. The Schreiber family (four girls and one boy) had immigrated to Kansas in 1880 from Caltenhautsch in Mahrin. Family oral history tells that this was in Austria and one piece of family written history said that the spelling of Mahrin was Marien. TK was told by a distant German relative on her mother's side of the family that it is spelled Mahrin and is in what was Czechoslovakia. Perhaps this was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the time of their immigration. One would need an old map of that area with the names in German rather than Czech to find this area. There is record of this marriage at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Ellinwood, Kansas, which verifies this information. It also states that Christopher Maes' home in Germany was Suelm (Sülm) and that his father's name was Joannis (John). Also the document at the church states that the witnesses for this marriage were Peter Klein and Gertrude Klein. Anna Marie Schreiber Maes and Christopher Maes made their home at the Maes Farm, which he had originally settled with his first wife, Magdalena. Anna and Christopher Maes had three children who were as follows: Casper Maes (1882-1950) (born 20 August 1882 and died on 18 January 1950), Margaret Maes (1884-1928) (born 12 June 1884 and died 7 June l928) and Anna Maes (1886-1958) (born 11 July 1886 and died 28 May 1958). Civil war records show that Christopher Maes lived in Ellsworth County, Kansas in 1880, 19 April 1890 at age 58 he resided in Cain City, Rice County and l June 1892 at the age of 60 he lived near Holyrood, Ellsworth County, Kansas and received a pension at the rate of $6.00/month (#179-978 I think this is the pension number). His pension records show that he died on 27 January 1895 at the age of 64. His granddaughter, Clara Maes Sturn, daughter of Casper Maes, told TK that he had been running after some cows on his farm and he died from a heart attack. His death certificate lists the cause of his death as pneumonia. When Christopher Maes died his children were the following ages: Mathias 28, Bernard?, Christopher 23, Catherine 18, Leonard 17, Casper 13, Margarita (Margaret) 11, and Anna 9. Anna Schreiber Maes lived on the Maes farm until 1919 when she then moved to Claflin, Kansas, where she lived with her daughter Anna and her step-granddaughter Rose Maes (Clark) until Anna’s death on 5 November 1928 when she was 79 years old. Civil War pension records also show as of 4 March 1927 Anna Schreiber Maes received $40.00 per month pension as a civil war widow in lieu of what she had been receiving. Children Christopher and Magdalena Breier had five children all born in Chicago who are as follows: Mathias who was born 19 January 1867 (died 6 May 1960), Bernard (no records), Christopher who was born 17 September 1872 (died 25 March 1938), Catherine who was born 29 January 1877 (died 6 December 1952) and Leonard who was born 28 September 1878 (died 2 March 1952) Anna and Christopher Maes had three children who were as follows: Casper (born 20 August 1882 and died on 18 January 1950), Margaret (born 12 June 1884 and died 7 June l928) and Anna (born 11 July 1886 and died 28 May 1958).